First off I want to apologize for the delay. College has been utilizing my schedule along with growing involvement in the Bitcoin community. I start experimenting with Bitcoin in 2010, after reading about it in an article.

I really sat back and read and watched the media and experts describe Bitcoin in every which way possible. What is clear is the Bitcoin is yet to be defined for it’s highest use value to society, if any. I am in the camp that believes “Bitcoin” or some other alternative decentralized currency will be around no matter what. Is it a currency or is it savings? The same question I ask about the precious metals. It is both, but at different times it does one or the other better than most domestic currencies. That is not to say domestic currencies don’t have their place, because they do. I pay taxes and wages in one but I that doesn’t mean I have to save or denominate transactiosn in it all the time either.

If you have been paying attention, price volatility and media hype has been at stratosphere levels. What we are going through right now is the weakest link in Bitcoin (exchanges) are going through the “growing pains” needed for them to professionalize their operations to the level that is needed to handle something of such value.

We have the normal profit herd along with professional operators (that likely some are doing the DDOS action) to cause panics and do things that irrational crowds love to do. My best advice (not investment advice), is the ask yourself, are you in Bitcoin for the short term gains or long-term building process? If so, you should operate under that modus operandi so the strong hands can take charge and continue with the building process, we have a lot of building ahead.

Banking assets equaling the U.S. GDP, scary thought. According to Bloomberg, 50% of these assets are off balance-sheet and are compromised of derivatives (bets) and other risky loans. With banking officials not being accountable to the same laws as the U.S. citizenry and this amount of ownership in Dollar assets, will not end well.

The math is starting to paint a bleak picture and we are seeing precedent that is backing up much of the dissenters message on these subjects. Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail, what does that mean? It sounds like we have a financial super-structure that is considered untouchable by the people who we elect and or expect to be upholding the rule of law in the name of Justice.

Think about it.

Bloomberg – That label, like a similar one on automobile side-view mirrors, might be required of the four largest U.S. lenders if Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has his way. Applying stricter accounting standards for derivatives and off-balance-sheet assets would make the banks twice as big as they say they are — or about the size of the U.S. economy — according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

No surprise here. They have over a billion people and China has taken a course to industrialized their country and increase their middle class to around the size of the entire United States population. In contrast, we have taken the course to incentivize (through tax policy) the outsourcing of production to low wage/regulation countries and replace it with the farce called the “service economy”.

We will be this service economy, the problem is that nobody told the people that they will need to decrease their standard of living and be settled that most people will be working jobs that service the better to do in society. The most I take stock of what is happening, the more legitimacy people who say the social contract has been broken. I believe if we are not there, it will be clear quite soon. The economy does not work for the majority of people and definitely does not work for future generations.

When you see the continue rise of China, take a moment to read some American History from 1830-1906. I am not saying we can have the same types of opportunities, but the country seems more focused on providing them to people willing to take a risk and do some hard work.

RT – China has passed the US as the world’s biggest trading nation as measured by the sum of exports and imports in 2012. It’s a position the US has held for over six decades.

Yeah, in the face of cheap money with no lending standards of worth, the public scapegoated the banks, by taking their financing. The top-major banks all lowered their lending standards to allow many unqualified borrowers to get vast amounts of credit extended to them, and it is their fault.

This really just shows the detachment from people in positions of power, from actually reality and this thing called “cause and effect”. You basically give credit away for a signature and it might be prudent to assume people are going to take advantage of it.

Did the public scapegoat the banks when they made billions on billions in bonuses off of all the short-term performance goals that were part of their benefits and bonus package? Do bankers need a pat on the back as well for DOING THEIR JOB, it is like they forgot what banks are actually for and just use them as their own personal casino and then go threaten our government with the Great Depression 2.0 when their bets go bad. This will stop.

Did the public scapegoat you when they extended trillions in secret loans to all the commercial banks and accept your “toxic” paper in exchange for good paper? Is this how we scapegoated you? Lesser attitudes than these have started revolts, they better not start drinking their own Kool-aid or the forecast will be cloudy with a chance of lightning.

Common Dream – Amid calls for stricter regulations of the banking industry, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon came under fire Wednesday after telling corporate and political leaders at the World Economic Forum that banks had been wrongly “scapegoated” as the cause of the global economic crisis, and resisted calls for increased regulation of the financial industry.

It looks like it is starting with this mortgage debt is not being discharged through foreclosure and instead it is lingering on the ex-homeowners credit, adding up taxes and fees along the way. It should be called “zombie debt” as well as “zombie homes”.

Now with the fraudulent robo-signing scandal being settled and in some cases settled out of court. The banks are feeling like they have a free hand to collect or not on this inflated mortgage debt from the real estate bubble years. I advocated many times, this is why you needed to default this debt and let real estate prices fall to sustainable levels (1.5 – 2 times annual income of your area). We have not only kept real estate prices artificially high, now we have debt attached to people that is artificially high and accruing interest and fees.

Yes, the borrowers are not off the hook, because they did sign the paperwork and took on these bad loans, but in the same token, where did this bad credit for real estate purchases come from??? The banks and other financial institutions. Settling with the Department of Justice or state agencies is one thing, but also we need to settle with the common person, not only borrowers but people who did not engage is this type of borrowing that some day would like to own a home and not have to pay and artificially high price and interest on top of that over 15-30 years.

It is quite funny that the banks can give away bad loans to homes, jack up the prices, foreclose and claim title to the real estate, decide not too and instead stick it to the borrower and get bailed out by the same taxpayers through the government and central bank. This is why precedence is so important and now we have some that are so out of whack that the security of the entire system is at risk. People will at some point say enough is enough and that will be a day you will not want to be on the other side of that collective and popular anger. Greed is not always good.

The Globe and Mail – Joseph Keller doesn’t expect he’ll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the house at 190 Avondale Avenue.

Five years ago, Mr. Keller, 10 months behind on his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JPMorgan Chase & Co. In a few weeks, the bank said, his three-story house with grey vinyl siding in Columbus, Ohio, would be put up for auction at a sheriff’s sale.